Anatoly Onoprienko Dies at 54

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's most prolific serial killer, Anatoly Onoprienko, who killed 52 people in a six-year reign of terror up to 1996, has died in jail, the state penitentiary service said on Tuesday.

Onoprienko, who killed groups of people at a time in western and central Ukraine, sometimes using a hunting rifle, shotgun or axe while trying to rob them, died in prison in the town of Zhytomir, Interfax news agency said.

The agency reported a prison service official as saying Onoprienko, who was about 54 years old, appeared to have died of a heart attack.